Building Inspection Commission (BIC)

Regular Meeting

Wednesday, November 4, 1998, at 1:00 p.m.

Adopted on November 18, 1998

War Memorial Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue, 4th Floor, Room 428

MINUTES

The meeting of the Building Inspection Commission was called to order at 1:25 p.m. by President Hood.

1.	ROLL CALL - Roll call was taken and a quorum was certified.

COMMISSION MEMBERS/STAFF PRESENT:

Bobbie Sue Hood, President	Armando Vasquez, Vice President

Mona Cereghino, Commissioner	Alfonso K. Fillon, Commissioner

Sigmund A. Freeman, Commissioner	Roy Guinnane, Commissioner

Sharon Mark, Commissioner

COMMISSION STAFF PRESENT:

Maria Banico, Commission Secretary

D.B.I. REPRESENTATIVES:

Jim Hutchinson, Deputy Director for Permit Services

Paulette Hooey, Manager, Administrative Services Division

CITY ATTORNEY'S REPRESENTATIVE:

Judy Boyajian, Deputy City Attorney

2.	President's Report.

President Hood said that the City of San Francisco has been traditionally Democratic. A Democratic governor has just been elected and that this may present an opportunity to work on the special conditions in the City and the San Francisco Building Code. The department should look into the working on this in the coming months and interested parties should work together to this end.

3.	Director's Report.

a.	Report, discussion and possible action with regards to the status of DBI's Surplus and Prepaid Inspection Fund since FY 1995-1996.

President Hood said that Director Chiu was out of town testifying before the Board of Architect Examiners and turned over the floor to Deputy Director Hutchinson.

Deputy Director Hutchinson thanked Ms. Paulette Hooey, Manager of Administrative Services, for her assistance in putting the information together and asked her to come up to the microphone to present a joint report. Mr. Hutchinson said that the BIC has been asking for a report on the surplus funds. The Board of Supervisors has also inquired as to potential uses of this fund and urged the department to look into developing new programs. The Department has worked with Supervisor Leal on this matter. These new programs include the One Stop Permit Processing Program and the Special Projects Program.

Deputy Director Hutchinson said that surplus consists of two funds: the deferred credits or pre-
paid inspection funds and the unreserved, available for appropriation fund. As of fiscal year 1998-98, the deferred credits balance is $5,261,163 and the unreserved funds balance is $3,429,728.

Ms. Hooey said that $4 million has been appropriated for the expansion of 1660 Mission Street. This left a balance of $8.6 million broken down as described by Mr. Hutchinson.

Deputy Director Hutchinson said that the department is looking into various uses for the surplus. The department agrees in concept to a rebate or a 3% reduction in permit fees. He said that the department has increased services over the last few years. It would be a great accomplishment to have increased services and reduce fees at the same time.

Commissioner Guinnane asked what a 3% reduction in fees would amount to.

Ms. Hooey said that a 3% reduction this year would cost about $777,730. This would increase to $733,806 for next year.

Commissioner Guinnane said that he had been informed by the Controller's Office that the department has not kept up to date in adjusting permit fees based on Marshall & Swift. He asked when the latest fee updates were done.

Deputy Director Hutchinson said that the last update was done within the last twelve months. The Department is required to update every six months. The latest update may have been late 1997.

Commissioner Guinnane asked what the revenue increase would be if the Marshall & Swift was updated.

Deputy Director Hutchinson said he did not know how much the increase in revenues would be.

Commissioner Guinnane said that the Controller's Office said that the department had updated the permit fees based on Marshall & Swift nine times only. The code would have required twelve updates.

Commissioner Cereghino asked if parties were saying that the Department does not need the money for programs in DBI.

Deputy Director Hutchinson said that there seems to be agreement that the level of service is good.

President Hood said that it was a matter of degree. The surplus may have become excessive. There should still be funds available for future programs. The department can only use permit fees for processing permits.

Deputy City Attorney Boyajian said that the scope of processing permits is broad. It could include provision of services related to permits but the department should not have a profit.

Deputy Director Hutchinson said that the Department conducted a survey about a year ago and found out that San Francisco charged one of the lowest fees in the Bay Area. The department is looking at new services such as being open for business on Saturdays.

Commissioner Cereghino said that there are other projects that have not been brought up yet, for example the MIS and Technical Services programs. She said that she gets complaints from citizens which are always on the service, never on fees. For example, there is still no secretary for the Technical Services Division.

Ms. Hooey said that if the fees are reduced, it will not affect the $3.6 million already in the surplus. It would affect the projected revenues for next year.

President Hood said that she found it difficult to talk of numbers without a written report. She said that she remembered the figure $12 million from a discussion several months ago. She said that she thought the department was very efficient in how some things are done, but there are some areas where service improvements are needed. A conservative margin can be set aside but she wants to go ahead with a 5% reduction in fees. This is not an insignificant amount to permit applicants. She said that she was not ready to vote today but wanted more information for the next meeting.

Commissioner Guinnane said that he wanted a report on the actual numbers including the revenues to be generated with a fee update based on the latest Marshall & Swift. He did not want a reduction in fees that would be offset by an increase due to Marshall & Swift.

Vice-President Vasquez said that he agreed with President Hood. Reductions in fees won't affect programs. There is a margin of safety. However, he would also like to understand what the other items entail (e.g., $4.6 million for the expansion). He also agreed with the need to address MIS issues and wants a report on those items.

President Hood said the report should include the programs identified by Commissioner Cereghino which don't seem to get closure. She said the she did not want the Department to be a Muni someday.

Deputy Director Hutchinson said he understood the Commission wanted information on MIS and the Technical Services Program. He asked if there were other areas of interest.

Commissioner Cereghino said that she wanted to get more information on the proposed expansion of 1660 Mission Street.

President Hood said that she has heard some complaints on fees for small projects. She said that the fee reduction does not have to be across the board.

Commissioner Cereghino agreed and said that across the board actions are not good.

Vice-President Vasquez said that the MIS issues need to be addressed separately from the budget surplus issue.

Ms. Hooey said that the MIS issues may be addressed through a supplemental budget.

President Hood said that this had already been attempted. The Department cannot purchase the right equipment and hire qualified people.

Commissioner Guinnane said that he thought the surplus was about $12 million. He asked for a breakdown.

Ms. Hooey said that the surplus consist of $5.2 million for pre-paid inspections and $7.4 million of unreserved, available for appropriations. $4.6 million of the unreserved has been appropriated for the building expansion.

Commissioner Guinnane asked where the money is at and whether these fund earn interest.

Ms. Hooey said that the funds earn interest.

Deputy City Attorney Boyajian said that the City Treasurer makes decisions on where funds are placed.

Commissioner Mark asked if the revenues and expenditures were proportionate and if there were any through years.

Ms. Hooey said that expenditures are pre-approved or appropriated before hand. The appropriations are based on the best guess estimates of next year's revenues.

Commissioner Mark said that there should be care in matching revenues with expenditures. There is a timing issue and there could be a year where expenditures exceed revenues.

Ms. Hooey said that if that occurred, then the deficit will come from the unreserved fund. The budgetary revenue projections can't be exact. The unreserved fund is a forced savings.

b.	Report and discussion on the building permit activities for the past 10 years.

Deputy Director Hutchinson said that he had a short oral report on permit activities. He said that the last peak year was in 1989-90 when 24,000 building permits issued. Permits dropped off till 1993-94 leveling off at about 20,000 permits. Then permits climbed again starting in 1995. For fiscal year 1998-98, projections are at 27,000 building permits. Permit valuation was at $950 million in 1989-90, dropping off to a low of $775 million in 1994-95 and climbing back to a projected $1 billion for this fiscal year. This information was taken from the annual report figures.

4.	Public Comment.

Ms. Mia Lord, resident and owner of 174 Majestic Avenue, addressed the Commission and said that she had addressed the Commission regarding code violations in her home. She requested that her concerns be agendized for discussion at a Commission meeting. Ms. Lord referred to documents she submitted to the Commission for this meeting.

Commissioner Guinnane said that in her October 22, 1998 letter, Ms. Lord mentioned that she had an unlicensed designer named John Baughman. Mr. Guinnane said that he has contracted with Mr. Baughman in the past, knows him to have a license and now is an architect. He also noted that Ms. Lord bought the house from Citicorp. He asked why Ms. Lord did not go back and sue Citibank under the statute of limitations for defects. He asked why Ms. Lord waited until this time.

Ms. Lord said that DBI was responsible for issuing the permit and checking on the contractor.

President Hood said that Ms. Lord had appeared before the Commission in past meetings. She had asked Deputy Director Wong to look into the matter. He wrote to Ms. Lord on November 2, 1998 and met with her. She asked if Ms. Lord had a copy of this letter.

Ms. Lord said she did not have this letter.

President Hood gave Ms. Lord a copy of the letter. She said that the Commission could not discuss this matter in detail because it was not on the agenda. However, she felt that Deputy Director Wong's letter addressed all the points that Ms. Lord raised today and at the previous meetings. She said that Ms. Lord could come back and address the Commission if she so desired. President Hood said that Ms. Lord had come to a Commission meeting shortly after this Commission started. This matter was agendized and discussed. Ms. Lord has been coming to meetings again recently and President Hood requested Deputy Director Wong to meet with and respond to Ms. Lord's concerns.

5.	Report, discussion and possible action regarding the status and tracking of funds received as result of judgments from the properties at 556 Jones Street and 1080 Bush Street.

Deputy City Attorney Kim Manolius said that at the last meeting, there was some confusion on the credits shown on the City Attorney's monthly billing. A special account has been set up in the Controller's Office.

Ms. Hooey said that the special account will be for funds from the City Attorney's Office for DBI's special fund. The credits shown on the monthly billing statements are from 556 Jones Street and 1080 Bush Street and will be moved to this account at the Controller's.

Commissioner Guinnane asked what kind of report the Commission will get. He asked if the report will show the breakdown of monies received by the City Attorney's Office.

Ms. Hooey said that the monies that are moved to the DBI special fund will go there. The collection for attorney's fees will continue to be a deduction or credit on the monthly billing from the City Attorney's Office.

Commissioner Guinnane asked if there was any reason why all the funds, less what goes to the City's general fund, cannot go to the account being set up at the Controller's Office.

Ms. Hooey said that there was no reason for this.

Commissioner Guinnane said that was what he would like to see. He would also like to get information on what the total amount was and what went to the City's general fund. He would like to see the breakdown of penalties.

Mr. Manolius said that he understood that an offset was used to reduce the monthly billing. He said that he did not know the mechanics of changing that process.

Ms. Hooey said that the process would entail only writing a memo to the City Attorney's Office accountant asking that the monthly billing not be reduced by these credits.

President Hood said that once DBI has paid the attorney's fees, then the collected attorney's fees should go back to the department. She said that the monthly billing was meant to track the department/division's expenditures so that the BIC can review and approve the level of expenditures.

Mr. Manolius said he did not know the mechanics and will see if the proposed procedures are acceptable.

President Hood said that the procedure should not present problems. The attorney's fees are already paid for. Reimbursements of these expenses should go back to DBI so that the department can decide how to use these funds.

Commissioner Guinnane asked for a breakdown also of the monies to be deposited into the account in the Controller's Office and detailed breakdown on each case.

Ms. Hooey said the report would probably show only total amounts.

Commissioner Guinnane said that wanted to see breakdown of each case.

Commission Secretary Banico said that the City Attorney's monthly billing showed time spent for each DBI division. The case-by-case information is in another data base. Entering attorney's fees as a credit could not be tracked using the monthly billing.

Deputy City Attorney Boyajian said that their office's accountant can produce reports on the amount of time spent on each case. This is often done at the end of a case.

Commissioner Guinnane said that he did not want to spend a lot of money in the City Attorney's Office to generate a lot of paper. What he was more interested in was the breakdown of monies collected.

Deputy City Attorney Boyajian said it may be a matter of punching several keys in the computer and generating individual cases.

Ms. Hooey asked if the cumulative billing report on a case should only be generated when there are corresponding monies coming in on that particular case. She said that it would be great if this report could be produced by the City Attorney's Office.

Deputy City Attorney Boyajian said that she thought that such a report could be generated.

Mr. Manolius said that he has used such a report. He gets a printout of attorney's time. This information is necessary for an attorney prior to settlement.

Commissioner Guinnane asked when the report would be available. He has been asking for this for three months.

President Hood asked if this could be available in two weeks.

Mr. Manolius said that he would provide a copy of his memo transmitting funds to their accounting office. This memo would contain a breakdown of these funds.

President Hood thanked everyone for their assistance on this matter.

6.	Report, discussion and possible action regarding the September 1998 billing and expenditures for City Attorney's Office' services to the Building Inspection Commission and the Department of Building Inspection.

Commissioner Guinnane referred to the written report and asked the reason for the difference in the September original and adjusted entries for the Housing Inspection Division.

Ms. Hooey said that there was a negative cumulative balance from previous month's billing which is now at negative $9,000

Commissioner Freeman said that there were negative projections that do not make sense. This has to be adjusted by hand or a better computer program should be used.

Ms. Hooey said that she had annualized all the figures and the negatives should be adjusted.

Commissioner Freeman said that the information is wrong. Someone may conclude that the department had projected negative balances for the year end.

Deputy City Attorney Boyajian asked how the charges are determined to be "unidentified charges."

Ms. Hooey said that the division managers review all the charges for their division. They mark down the charges that do not belong to their division.

Deputy City Attorney Boyajian said that there was an entry for her attendance at an Access Appeals Commission as "unidentified."

Ms. Hooey said that she would check with the person who reviewed the AAC entries.

The Commission took a break at this point in the proceedings, from 2:30 to 2:55 p.m.

7.	Report and discussion with regards to the progress accomplished by the One Stop Permit Coordination Program and the hiring of the Manager for the One Stop.

Mr. David Serrano-Sewell, Special Assistant to the Director, reported on the progress of the One Stop permit Coordination Program. He said that the deadline for applications for the One Stop Manager was November 6, 1998. He anticipated having a manager on board by early 1999.

President Hood asked about the process for selection.

Mr. Serrano-Sewell said that the application packet included specific questions which would be reviewed and ranked.

Commissioner Cereghino said that she found out that the One Stop Manager will have responsibility over the first floor operations. She said that this scope of responsibility should be reflected in the hiring process.

Mr. Serrano-Sewell said that this was being considered. Director Chiu is interested in integrating the first floor operations, as well as the Customer Service Division, with the One Stop Program.

Ms. Crystal Pearl, One Stop Permit Coordinator, reported on specific projects processed by the program staff and said that the turnaround time was efficient. There has been a lot of commendations and thank you letters from satisfied customers. She said that for the period from July to October, the program has issued permits for work valued at about $65 million.

President Hood asked how the valuation was increasing on a month to month basis.

Ms. Pearl said that the changes varied from month to month. There was a big jump for the month of October. Prior to October, the program issued 38 permits cumulative. For the month of October, the program issue 36 permits. There was high valuation for the month of August because there was a big job for the Geneva Towers.

Commissioner Mark asked if the department could estimate what amount of permits was processed by the One Stop Program in relation to the entire department.

Deputy Director Hutchinson said that the information will be available soon and will be part of the next quarterly report and other future report.

President Hood said that the concept of a One Stop Permit Coordination Program of having only one contact person is the way to go. She knows that there is some resistance from people who have been used to processing permits another way. The program can be viewed as a threat and invading other program territories. She said that the Commission has in the past come out in support of the program. She asked if there was anything that the Commission should to do break down those barriers of resistance.

Mr. Serrano-Sewell said that the Commission could express its continued support and endorsement.

President Hood said that it is important that the hiring process reflect diversity. She said that she hoped that it would be an open and fair process and that there would be a variety of applicants. This may be seen by some as the first step in streamlining some of the first floor processes. There is some reality in their fear of their territory being invaded. It's still going to be DBI and still their territory. She urged Director Chiu to get the people who do the work to make the changes.

8.	Commissioner Inquiries and Review of Communication Items: At this time, the Commission may make inquiries to staff regarding the status of various documents, policies, practices and procedures which are of interest to the Commission and may discuss communication items received since the last Commission meeting.

Commissioner Freeman asked if the appointments of member of the Access Appeals Commission will be on the agenda for the next meeting. He said that he has seen it on and off draft agendas.

President Hood said that initially there were not many applications. Then there was a need to review the resumes. Also, there was a time when there were several BIC members absent. So the matter was postponed further. She thought that the matter should not be done on a piecemeal basis.

Commissioner Freeman asked how the agenda will reflect the nominees and applicants.

Commissioner Fillon said that he would recommend one applicant per seat. He said that this was another reason for continuing the matter. As applications came in, he needed to review his recommendations.

President Hood said that this would not preclude the rest of the Commission from nominating a different applicant.

Commission Secretary Banico noted an invitation forwarded to the Commission regarding a forum to discuss the State Historic Building Code. She said the invitation was being forwarded by Mr. Laurence Kornfield who requested that the Commission members let him know in advance if they wished to attend this forum. Ms. Banico said that there should be less than a quorum of the Commission at this meeting.

9.	Discussion and possible action with respect to those items that could be placed on the agenda of November 18, 1998 BIC Regular Meeting and other future meetings.

President Hood said that the appointments to the Access Appeals Commission may be on the agenda. Another item mentioned today was the follow up on the MIS. She said that the report on the surplus is very important and this matter should be put to rest. She said that Commissioner Guinnane has some momentum on this issue and encouraged him to continue working on it and look at reduction on fees.

Commissioner Guinnane suggested that he and Commissioner Cereghino work on this issue. He said that one of his concerns is that any reduction in fees may be offset by increases based on Marshall & Swift.

Deputy Director Hutchinson said that although there are tables and requirements, the calculation of fees is not an exact science.

President Hood said that she understood Commissioner Guinnane's point to be that if there is to be a reduction in fees, there should not be any increases anymore.

Commissioner Cereghino repeated her concern about having across-the-board cuts.

Commission Secretary Banico ask for a clarification on the role of Commissioner Guinnane and Commissioner Cereghino, whether this would be a committee or task force.

President Hood said that Commissioner Guinnane and Commissioner Cereghino could work as a task force.

Commissioner Mark said that Commission Secretary Banico's performance review should be agendized.

President Hood requested that if the Access Appeals Commission appointments are on the calendar, that this matter be postponed to the next meeting.

Vice-President Vasquez requested that there be an agenda item on the exterior paint practices code amendments.

President Hood said that there should be a report on the unlawful demolition status, maybe sometime in December.

Commissioner Freeman said that he still does not have participation from Planning staff.

Deputy Director Hutchinson said that he had completed a survey of other cities. He would not be able to attend the November 9 task force meeting but will see to it that someone from his staff is there.

Commissioner Freeman said that planning staff and members of the Planning Commission don't seem to understand the issues.

President Hood said that she thought they knew what the issues were. However, the Planning Department has no enforcement powers.

Commissioner Cereghino said the regulations could just be deleted from the Building Code.

Commissioner Freeman asked if Junior Site Permits is timely to agendized.

President Hood also asked that the joint meeting report (BIC and CPC) be agendized for December or January.

10.	Public Comment.

There was no testimony at this point in the proceedings.

11.	Adjournment.

There being no other business, and on a motion made by Vice-President Vasquez, seconded by Commissioner Cereghino, the meeting adjourned at 3:28 p.m.

The motion passed unanimously. [Resolution No. BIC-093.98]

_________________________________

MARIA G. T. BANICO

Commission Secretary

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